Produced by David McClamrock
THE INQUISITION
A CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE COERCIVE POWER OF THE CHURCH
BY E. VACANDARD
TRANSLATED FROM THE SECOND EDITION BY BERTRAND L. CONWAY, C.S.P.
NEW EDITION
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK
LONDON, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA AND MADRAS 1915
Nihil Obstat. THOMAS J. SHAHAN, S.T.D.
Imprimatur. + JOHN M. FARLEY, D.D Archbishop of New York.
NEW YORK, June 24, 1907.
Copyright, 1907, by BERTRAND L. CONWAY
All Rights Reserved
First Edition, February, 1908 Registered, May, 1908 New and Cheaper
Edition, September, 1915
NOTE TO THIS ELECTRONIC EDITION
In the print edition of this book, footnote numbers began with 1 on
each page, and the footnotes appeared at the bottom of each page. In
this electronic edition, the footnotes have been re-numbered
beginning with 1 for each paragraph, and they appear directly below
the paragraph that refers to them. A very few ascertainable errors
have been caught and corrected. All else is intended to correspond as
closely as possible to the contents of the print edition.
PREFACE
THERE are very few Catholic apologists who feel inclined to boast of
the annals of the Inquisition. The boldest of them defend this
institution against the attacks of modern liberalism, as if they
distrusted the force of their own arguments. Indeed they have hardly
answered the first objection of their opponents, when they instantly
endeavor to prove that the Protestant and Rationalistic critics of
the Inquisition have themselves been guilty of heinous crimes. "Why,"
they ask, "do you denounce our Inquisition, when you are responsible
for Inquisitions of your own?"
No good can be accomplished by such a false method of reasoning. It
seems practically to admit that the cause of the Church cannot be
defended. The accusation of wrongdoing made against the enemies they
are trying to reduce to silence comes back with equal force against
the friends they are trying to defend.
It does not follow that because the Inquisition of Calvin and the
French Revolutionists merits the reprobation of mankind, the
Inquisition of the Catholic Church must needs escape all censure. On
the contrary, the unfortunate comparison made between them naturally
leads one to think that both deserve equal blame. To our mind, there
is only one way of defending the attitude of the Catholic Church in
the Middle Ages toward the Inquisition. We must examine and judge
this institution objectively, from the standpoint of morality,
justice, and religion, instead of comparing its excesses with the
blameworthy actions of other tribunals.
No historian worthy of the name has as yet undertaken to treat the
Inquisition from this objective standpoint. In the seventeenth
century, a scholarly priest, Jacques Marsollier, canon of the Uzès,
published at Cologne (Paris), in 1693, a _Histoire de l'Inquisition
et de son Origine_. But his work, as a critic has pointed out, is
"not so much a history of the Inquisition, as a thesis written with a
strong Gallican bias, which details with evident delight the
cruelties of the Holy Office." The illustrations are taken from
Philip Limborch's _Historia Inquisitionis_.[1]
[1] Paul Fredericq, _Historiographie de l'Inquisition_, p. xiv.
Introduction to the French translation of Lea's book on the
Inquisition.
Henry Charles Lea, already known by his other works on religious
history, published in New York, in 1888, three large volumes entitled
_A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages._ This work has
received as a rule a most flattering reception at the hands of the
European press, and has been translated into French.[1] One can say
without exaggeration that it is "the most extensive, the most
profound, and the most thorough history of the Inquisition that we
possess."[2]
[1] _Histoire de l'Inquisition au moyen âge_, Solomon Reinach. Paris,
Fischbacher, 1900-1903.
[2] Paul Fredericq, loc. cit., p. xxiv.
It is far, however, from being the last word of historical criticism.
And I am not speaking here of the changes in detail that may result
from the discovery of new documents. We have plenty of material at
hand to enable us to form an accurate notion of the institution
itself. Lea's judgment, despite evident signs of intellectual
honesty, is not to be trusted. Honest he may be, but impartial never.
His pen too often gives way to his prejudices and his hatred of the
Catholic Church. His critical judgment is sometimes gravely at
fault.[1]
[1] The reader may gather our estimate of this work from the various
criticisms we will pass upon it in the course of this study.
Tanon, the president of the Court of Cassation, has proved far more
impartial in his _Histoire des Tribunaux de l'Inquisition en
France._[1] This is evidently the work of a scholar, who possesses a
very wide and accurate grasp of ecclesiastical legislation. He is
deeply versed in the secrets of both the canon and the civil law.
However, we must remember that his scope is limited. He has of set
purpose omitted everything that happened outside of France. Besides
he is more concerned with the legal than with the theological aspect
of the Inquisition.
[1] Paris, 1893.
On the whole, the history of the Inquisition is still to be written.
It is not our purpose to attempt it; our ambition is more modest. But
we wish to picture this institution in its historical setting, to
show how it originated, and especially to indicate its relation to
the Church's notion of the coercive power prevalent in the Middle
Ages. For, as Lea himself says: "The Inquisition was not an
organization arbitrarily devised and imposed upon the judicial system
of Christendom by the ambition or fanaticism of the Church. It was
rather a natural--one may almost say an inevitable--evolution of the
forces at work in the thirteenth century, and no one can rightly
appreciate the process of its development and the results of its
activity, without a somewhat minute consideration of the factors
controlling the minds and souls of men during the ages which laid the
foundation of modern civilization."[1]
[1] Preface, p. iii.
We must also go back further than the thirteenth century and
ascertain how the coercive power which the Church finally confided to
the Inquisition developed from the beginning. Such is the purpose of
the present work. It is both a critical and an historical study. We
intend to record first everything that relates to the suppression of
heresy, from the origin of Christianity up to the Renaissance; then
we will see whether the attitude of the Church toward heretics can
not only be explained, but defended.
We undertake this study in a spirit of absolute honesty and
sincerity. The subject is undoubtedly a most delicate one. But no
consideration whatever should prevent our studying it from every
possible viewpoint. Cardinal Newman, in his Historical Sketches,
speaks of "that endemic perennial fidget which possesses certain
historians about giving scandal. Facts are omitted in great
histories, or glosses are put upon memorable acts, because they are
thought not edifying, whereas of all scandals such omissions, such
glosses, are the greatest."[1]
[1] Vol. ii, p. 231.
A Catholic apologist fails in his duty to-day if he writes merely to
edify the faithful. Granting that the history of the Inquisition will
reveal things we never dreamed of, our prejudices must not prevent an
honest facing of the facts. We ought to dread nothing more than the
reproach that we are afraid of the truth. "We can understand," says
Yves Le Querdec,[1] "why our forefathers did not wish to disturb
men's minds by placing before them certain questions. I believe they
were wrong, for all questions that can be presented will necessarily
be presented some day or other. If they are not presented fairly by
those who possess the true solution, or who honestly look for it,
they will be by their enemies. For this reason we think that not only
honesty but good policy require us to tell the world all the
facts.... Everything has been said, or will be said some day.... What
the friends of the Church will not mention will be spread broadcast
by her enemies. And they will make such an outcry over their
discovery, that their words will reach the most remote corners and
penetrate the deafest ears. We ought not to be afraid to-day of the
light of truth; but fear rather the darkness of lies and errors."
[1] _Univers_, June 2, 1906.
In a word, the best method of apologetics is to tell the whole truth.
In our mind, apologetics and history are two sisters, with the same
device: "_Ne quid falsi audeat, ne quid veri non audeat
historia_."[1]
[1] Cicero, De Oratore ii, 15.
CONTENTS
PREFACE
CHAPTER I FIRST PERIOD (I-IV CENTURIES): THE EPOCH OF THE
PERSECUTIONS.
The Teaching of St. Paul on the Suppression of Heretics The Teaching
of Tertullian The Teaching of Origen The Teaching of St. Cyprian The
Teaching of Lactantius Constantine, Bishop in Externals The Teaching
of St. Hilary